Footwear construction



March 178",` 19471. F. H. woLFHARVb g1-AL 2,235,694

FOOTWEAR CONSTRUCTION Filed NOV. 25, 1938 ,c A TTORNEYS..

Patented Mar. 18, i941 j UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE FOOTWEAR CONSTRUCTION Frederickll. Wolfhard, St. Jerome, Quebec, and Leighton C. Woodall, Notre Dame .de Grace, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, assignors to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 25, 1938, Serial No. 242,260

s omms. 5(01. 11a- 146) i This invention relates to an improved footwear construction which provides a relatively smooth ,inner surface along the union between the vamp and the quarter and eliminates a large ridge at 5 such Joint. y

Heretofore the adjoining margins of the vamp and the quarter have been overlapped and united by stitching along such margins. As is well known such a lapped seam produces an uneven surface ,l on the interior of the shoe and if such seams occur in areas where the foot of thewearer exerts pressure thereon, the seam frequently causes dis- 'comfort to the wearer. Lap seams in the style of shoe commonly known as the lace-to-toe shoe are particularly objectionable in the toe portion of the shoe where a great amount of chang action occurs between the toe of the wearer and the inside walls of the shoe. In the canvas-laceto-toe shoe the tongue is usually bound with a strip of binding which extends around the edges and along the seams between the vamp and the quarter on each side of the' toe portion of the shoe. Heretofore the binding extended along the seams on the inside walls of the shoe, which further increased the unevenness of the surface. at this point and caused chaiing.`

In accordance with the present invention a smooth seeinl is formed between the adjoining edges of the vamp and the quarter by Vuniting 3o these edges in abutting relation, so as to form what is commonly known as the butt seam or joint. In the lace-to-toe shoe construction, the adjoining edges of the vamp and the quarter are slit in the region where the tongue merges with thevamp, and thebinding extending around the edges of the tongue is extended through these slits to the outside of the vamp. The binding is secured along the seam between the outside eyelet stay and the outside surface of the seam between the vamp and the quarter. The adjoining edges of the vamp and quarter may be secured together with cross stitching or may be retained in place with cement. In either case the lower end of the binding is removed from the inside walls 'of the shoe upper, and a smooth interior surface is thereby provided.

The foregoing featu es and other obiects of this invention are set forth in the foliowing'descrip tion and the accompanying drawing illustrating the front portion of a shoe embodying the invention in which: v

Fig. 1is an inside view of a front portion of a longitudinal section of a shoe illustrating an embodiment of' the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective inside view of a one piece Y Fig, 3 is a plan view of the inside surface ofthev front portion of one section of the quarter;

Fig. 4 isa plan view of the inside surface of ter united to the one piece vamp and tongue; and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the inside surface of the toe portion of an upper showing the tongue and vamp piece united to each quarter section and illustrating a modication of the invention 5 shown in Figs. 1 to 4.

This invention is described and illustrated herein in reference to a canvas shoe of the type commonly known as a lace-to-toe construction and is applicable to either high or low shoes. Referring lil` to the drawing, Fig. 1 is an inside view of a longitudinal cross section of the front portion of a. high canvas shoe having an upper i0 whose bottom edges are turned in between an outer rubber sole Ilv and a sponge rubber inner sole I2, which I5 y elements Iare assembled with a ,filling material i3, foxing Il, and toe cap I5 in the .usual manner.y The upper .I0 comprises a' vamp I6 which is secured to the front portion of the quarter I'I by a butt seam I8 which produces a smooth inside 2 0 surface for the shoe. Asvshown in Fig. 2 the vamp i6 and the tongue I9 are constructed from one piece of material. The tongue is provided with an 'edge binding 26 which is stitched thereto., Slits 2l are made in the edges 22 of the vamp 25 i6 at the region of merger between the tongue and the vamp. The binding 20 is not stitched to the tongue or vamp beyond the slits. The unstitched ends of the binding 2'0 are extended through the `slits from the inside surface of the one piece 30 vamp and tongue to the outside surface thereof, as shown on the upper edge of Fig. 2 and on both edges of Fig. 4. At the lower edge of the vamp I6, as' shown in Fig. 2, the unstitched end of the binding has not been extended through the slit 2 I. .35

The combination one piece vamp and tongue IB--IS so constructed is then assembled with the front ends 23 and 24 of the right and left sections 25 and 26. respectively, of the quarter i1. As shown in Fig. 4, the right section 25 is assem- 40 bled with the one piece vamp and tongue l6`l9 land united thereto with cross stitches, or overedge stitches IB', and the front end of the left section 2t of the quarter is shown in Fig. 3 ready to be assembled with the one pi'ece vamp and 45 tongue in the manner indicated in Fig. 4. A slit 2B' is made in the front ends 2'3 and 2l of the quarter to receive any portion of the binding that might extend beyond the edge of the tongue I9,

and to assist m the assembly of the parts. so I Figs. 2, 3 and tare views of the internal sur.- faces of the one piece vamp and tongue I G-IS, 1 and quarter I1, and as shown in Fig. 4, the un' .stitched ends of vthe binding 2li on the edge of the tongue il extends through the slits 2| :from 455 the inside surface of the shoe upper to the outside surface, and as shown in Fig. 1 the outside eyelet stay 21 is stitched along the upper margin of each quarter section 2l and 28 of the quarter Il. The stay 21 extends downwardly over the 5 outside of the seam I8 and is stitched to the vamp I6 and the quarter I1 on each side of the seam.

` tact with the wearers foot and chang it.

A modified construction of this invention is shown in Fig. 5, in which the toe tip 28 is placed on the inside of the shoe instead of on the outside, as in the case of the tip I5 shown in Fig. 1. In this construction the vamp 29 and the tongue 29 is of a one piece construction and is joined with the quarter 30 with a butt seam 3I at each side of the'vamp. .This seam, however, is not necessarily reinforced by cross stitching. The cross stitching may be omitted, and the seam secured together on the inside by means of the inside toe cap 28 which is cemented to the vamp 29 and extends over the seam 3| and on to the inside surface of the quarter 30. The outside eyelet stays 33 are stitched to the upper edges of the quarters and extend downwardly over the butt seam 3I on both sides thereof and is stitched to the vamp and the quarter on both sides of the seam before the inside toe cap 28 is applied. The vamp and the quarter are slit as in the other shoe construction` 'I'he tongue binding 3d is extended through the slits in the manner previously described.

In assembling the shoe described in Figs. 1 to 4, the one piece tongue and vamp I-IQ is cut out and provided with the edge slits 2I as shown in Fig. 2. The edge binding 2i) is stitched around the edge of the tongue to the point where the slits 2| are made. Preferably that portion of the vamp extending below the slit is folded toward the center of the vamp and the portion of the binding extending beyond the slit is stitched together but not to the one piece vamp and tongue. The extending ends of the binding, although they may contain the edge stitching, are referred to herein as the unstitched ends.

The sections 25 and 26 of the quarter I1 are cut out as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The eyelet stays 21 are sewed to the upper edges of the quarter, but are left unstitched from a line adjacent to the slits 28' to the lower end of the stays (see Fig. 3). The eyelets are inserted as usual and the one piece vamp and tongue IG-Il are assembled so that the side edges 22 of the vamp are arranged in abutting relation with the front edges of the quarter I1. In order that these edges may be stitched together with greater facility, the material of the quarter above the slits 26 is brought out of alignment with the material below such slits by folding the front end of the stay 21 towards the rear of the quarter. After the stitching I8' has been made the lower end of the quarter I1 and stay 21 is folded back to the position shown in Fig. 4, and the ends of the stays are stitched on each side of the seam I8 to the vamp I8 andthe quarter I1 by the stitches The modification of the shoe shown in Fig. 5 is assembled in the same manner except that the cross stitches I 8' are omitted and the inside toe cap 28 is cemented to the inside of the upper.

While more than one form of the invention has been illustrated and described herein, it will be understood that modifications of details thereof may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention and the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desiie to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a shoe, a sole having an upper attached thereto, said upper comprising a vamp and a quarter cut out in separate pieces. said vamp and quarter having matched abutting edges at the toe enclosing portion of the shoe, said matched edges extending downwardly to the sole of the shoe and being secured together with a butt seam construction, and an outside eyelet stay extending entirely over said butt seain and stitched to said vamp and quarter on opposite sides .of said seam to thereby reinforce same.

2. In a shoe of the lace-to-toe construction,V a sole having an upper attached thereto said upper comprising a one piece vamp and tongue and a separate quarter united thereto, said piece having a slit on each side thereof extending inwardly from the edge in the region where the vamp merges with the tongue, said tongue having an edge binding extending through said slit from the inside'of said piece to the outside thereof, said vamp having side edges extending from the tongue portion downwardly to said sole, said quarter having front edges matched in abutting relation with said side edges of said vamp and a slit in said front edges opposite said slit in said one piece vamp and tongue, eyelet stays stitched to each front edge of said quarter and extending downwardly over the outside of said entire butt seam construction, and the edges of said staysy being stitched to said quarter and vamp on each side of said butt seams to reinforce said seams and to conceal the ends of said tongue binding.

3. The method of making shoes comprising the steps of cutting out a one-piece vamp and tongue, slitting the opposite edges of said piece near the region of merger of the vamp and tongue, binding the edges of the tongue by stitching a strip of binding thereto along such edges up to and terminating at the slits, extending the ends of the binding through the slits from the inside surface of the piece to the outside, cutting out a quarter with front edges corresponding to the side edges of the vamp, slitting the front edges of the quarter, stitching outside eyelet stays to said quarter to a point adjacent to said slits therein and leaving the ends of said stays unstitched, arranging the side edges of the vamp in abutting relation with the front edges of the quarter so that the slits in the quarter and the one-piece vamp and tongue are substantially in line, folding the front end of the stays and the front ends of the quarter extending above said slits backward at said slits and toward the rear portion of said quarter, and securing said abutting edges of said quarter and vamp together with cross stitches to form butt seams, and stitching the unstitched ends of the eyelet stays on each side of said seam to the quarter and the vamp.

FREDERICK H. WOLFHARD. LEIGHTON C. WOODALL. 

